Saturday, November 15, 2008

This set of twelve live recordings seem to have been issued many times through the years. I first purchased them on cassette several years ago. I recently came across this version on CD at a local "Dollarama" store, and for a buck couldn't pass it up.
I've never been able to pin down when these recordings were made, where, or who the Blue Grass Boys are on them. They sound to me like either the mid to late '60's or early '70's. Bill is in good form, and his chop mandolin comes through better than on some of his records. Mostly Monroe standards here, I particularly like this version of "The Prisoner's Song".
If anybody has any more information about these recordings, please drop me a line and I'll include it here.

1 comments:

Judging from the band's sound I would say that is likely sometime in 1963, as the lead singer is Del McCoury, and the banjo definitely Bill Keith. I am not as sure about the fiddler, but when McCoury and Keith were in the band, the fiddler was most often longtime Monroe sideman, Joe Stuart.